As Alen walked deeper into the forest, he saw several bizarre, half-eaten monsters and animals. To his surprise, they were all undead. Fortunately, he passed through them without any difficulty.

He was able to recognize several important details. The undead were mindless creatures, attracted by even the slightest sound. Their ’sense’ of ’hearing’ was immense, but their other senses were dull. Alen made sure to step carefully on his way.

In the way, he saw several of the dead trees, they contains purple leaves, even Alen felt confused that if the Trees were dead then why did there leaves don’t fall down on ground?

The forest were completely weird with various bizarre things happened, which is out of biological and Physical law.

He then started to pace faster, as he felt that he was closed to getting the centre of the forest because the density of the trees increasing.

But as he got closer to the center of the forest, the number of undead started to lessen. It felt weird to Alen; he expected the numbers to increase at the center, but in contrast, there were far fewer of them to be seen.

As he walked, he came across a large open area and stepped into it. The vast space was completely free of trees or any other plants. At the center of the clearing stood a large mansion that looked less like a noble estate and more like an ancient haunted house.

As Alen looked at it, he felt an irresistible pull.

’Should i take the risk and step in? Or... not?’

As he decided to give it a try and stepped forward.

He pushed the gate.

*Creak—*

It gave a weird, eerie sound, similar to those in ghost movies.

He continued walking, passing through the sprawling garden of the mansion. All the plants here were dried out and dead. Purple vines climbed the walls of the mansion, emitting a faint purple glow that somehow looked beautiful against the dark structure. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Alen reached the front doors. He stopped for a second; taking the risk of entering an unknown place could easily cost him his life. But he couldn’t ignore the feeling that something inside was attracting him.

He pushed the door open with all his force.

*CREAK—*

The door slowly opened, and Alen stepped inside.

The interior was pitch black, with no light illuminating the hall. As Alen moved forward, the door suddenly shut behind him.

*Click!* *Shut!*

He looked back immediately, but to his shock, there was no door there. He only saw an empty wall. The exit had disappeared completely, as if it had just been an illusion.

Suddenly, candles flickered to life, illuminating the dark room. What was revealed in front of Alen filled his expression with absolute horror.

Hundreds of ropes were attached to the ceiling, and hanging from those ropes were the skeletons of humans, monsters, and many other creatures completely outside of Alen’s knowledge. The sheer amount of skeletons hanging from above sent a violent chill down his spine.

[Ding!]

[Hidden Trial detected!]

[Hidden Trial: Get out of the ’Bloody Witch Mansion’ Safely!]

Alen looked at the prompt. It was another trial. He was already inside a trial, and now he had stumbled into a new problem.

’Did I awaken some new ’Disaster Magnet’ ability?’

He quickly covered his mouth with his hand to block the foul smell.

’I have to find the exit as soon as possible. This place looks terrible!’

Alen started to walk. He passed by the hanging skeleton of some random animal and entered one of the rooms.

It was completely empty except for some furniture—not that Alen expected anyone to actually live here. He checked the furniture to see if he could find a hidden door or a clue. He moved the closet and the table, and even peeked under the bed, but to his disappointment, he found nothing but empty air.

He walked out of the room and went to the next one.

This room was smaller than the first. He saw several toys sprawling on the floor and an old stuffed dragon with missing limbs lying on the bed. There was also a window in the room. He checked it, but he couldn’t see outside; the glass was completely opaque, closed off like a solid brick wall.

[Body Strengthening!]

Alen punched the window with all his strength.

*BOOOM!*

But the result was not what he expected. The window was completely unharmed, as if the punch had never even hit it. It was like it was made of solid diamond.

"Damn, so even after using magic, it still won’t break! What kind of terrible mansion is this?"

He walked out of the bedroom, carefully preventing himself from stepping on any of the toys. He then checked every single room on the ground floor, but regretfully found nothing except dust and that foul smell.

He then turned toward the upper floor. He walked forward, slowly climbing the stairs.

As he climbed, he saw a giant portrait on the wall. It was undeniably one of the most beautiful paintings he had ever seen in his life. The portrait was a family photo, which Alen guessed belonged to the ’original’ owners of the mansion.

A woman was sitting in a chair. She was terrifyingly beautiful. Behind her stood a handsome man. And right in front of the man, standing beside the seated woman, was a young child, no more than five years old. The boy was holding the stuffed dragon.

They looked like a perfectly happy family. Alen saw the child clinging to his mother. For a moment, he stared blankly at the image. He remembered the days when he was also a boy with the same smile as the kid in the photo. He had been just as innocent back then. But life didn’t wait for anyone.

He walked past it. He had to get out of this place as soon as possible. He felt like something even more horrible was going to happen soon.